I’m not sure how I missed this all these years, but it appears LOTW augments the ADIF standard for the Mode field values allowing a generic phone and generic data value.
I wrote about this is a previous post called “ADIF Mode missing PH and DIG.”
Rather than PH and DIG described in my previous post, LOTW accepts the values PHONE and DATA in the Mode Field during its import process. Interesting.
This is good news for events like Field Day where the QSO mode recording requirement is only Phone, CW or Data.
Yes it is true many, if not most, logging programs go the extra mile and record the actual mode used (SSB, FM, PSK31, OLIVIA, RTTY, etc.) and properly flow this data into the ADIF export file. Yes it is true LOTW will properly import these mode values and handle accordingly.
For some reason the ADIF specification authors think non-specific mode-group values, like PHONE and DATA, are not legitimate mode values. The latest version of the ADIF specification still does not have “PHONE” and “DATA” as legitimate values.
ADIF Incompatible with ARRL Field Day
A standard, such as ADIF, that supports Field Day as a legitimate CONTEST-ID value, but then doesn’t accept perfectly legitimate Field Day mode values is in direct conflict with itself.
As mentioned in my previous post about this, someone actually suggested the rules for Field Day be changed to reflect the mode recording requirements of ADIF. You can’t make this stuff up folks.
Anyway, LOTW obviously saw this issue for what it is and simply accepts PHONE and DATA in the ADIF mode field thereby being perfectly compatible with the contest and events it administrates. Kudos to the ARRL.
Attempts to upload Field Day data to eQSL did not succeed the last time I tried. I haven’t bothered trying since.
